McDonald's on a mission to hire, change image

McDonald's is on a mission to hire thousands of new employees and change its image at the same time. The company is making a huge push to hire 50,000 workers nationwide with its first ever national hiring day on Tuesday.

From teenagers looking for their first job to retail professionals, people of all experience levels were seen applying to McDonald's jobs.

Many said they never thought they'd be applying at McDonald's, but with bills piling up and not a lot of employment opportunities, fast food is quickly becoming a fast financial fix.

"The economy is very hard right now. It's very hard to find a job anywhere," said Leticia Ramirez, a job applicant in Los Angeles.

Ramirez said she has been out of a job for three years.

"Any little job, any little opening is pretty good," she said.

One of the reasons for the big hiring push at McDonald's is that more locations are staying open 24 hours.

"If you can work here, you can work anywhere because it doesn't matter whether you're making Big Macs or Macintoshes. There are certain skills that you have to learn," said Patricia Williams, a McDonald's store owner. "We just want to be part of the community and if we can do something to help the economy then that's what we're here for."

In Southern California alone, there are 3,000 jobs available. In addition to walk-in applicants, McDonald's is also taking applications online.